OK , I went out and bought a Fuji S3 yesterday, they dropped the price about $500 and offer about $400 in software and extras till the end of November
(It was just sitting there on the shelf of the camera store calling my name )

The first thing I do is have to charge the Ni-Mh AA batteries
- That took about 6 hours ! -

Now I am sitting here trying to figure out what I should start out with settings-wise .

the white balance seems SO far off from the D100 I have ,
and the size difference of the RAW files is huge
Nikon RAW = 9.5 meg
Fuji RAW = 24 meg

If I want to run a "fair" comparison ,should I shoot both with the SUN setting, and large/fine jpeg (3meg)

BUT what about the film simulation options AND dynamic range on the fuji ?
( just leave on auto/ standard )

should I turn anything else on or off ?

PS. I am in the middle of doing what the book said and after charging the batteries (6hrs.) -NOW I am DIS-charging the batteries any idea how long that will take ( been doing it for 2 hours already ) [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

In all honesty to run a "fair comparison" between your D100 and an S3 is nearly impossible. The specs of the cameras are so far apart to begin with that got many Nikon shooters on S2's to begin with.

For right now, my advice would be to trust the Fuji color and white balance, they are one of the few options out there where the Auto settings can be trustworthy. I would work with the camera as if it were your first digital camera.

Work with what it is instead of what the D100 was not and tweek your settings to your liking as you go through the motions of your test shooting. With the two sensors inside you will also be seeing an increase in your Dynamice range and noise reduction which was present on the S2 model and quite possibly there on your D100 as well.

For your test shooting I would include some white's just so you can start seeing the detail the camera can give you still with that range, and of course some dark shots to see the noise reduction.

Best of luck, and send in your rebates asap to get the battery tray and all the other goodies. Tis a fine camera you got there, I believe JT is shooting with one now and probably cursing out the price drop [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]